Hi guys, I recently got hold of this tree. I have taken samples of the leaves (it has two type of leaves) and of the stems (one with thorns one without) to some of our local nurseries - no luck. No one seems to know what type of tree this might be. I have tried books, the net and some of my fellow bonsai friends. No one knows what this might be. I live in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, and think this might not be indigenousness. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Please excuse the photos, it was taken with my cell phone (only digital camera I have right now).

PeacefulAres wrote:Take this with a grain of salt, but my first thought upon seeing the leaves, was that they looked similar to those of feral oranges. Have you considered that it may be a citrus of some kind?

Hi there "PeacefulAres", no I actaully have not, at first I thought it might be some kind of a rose due to the stem with the thorns, but to be perfectly honest I'm flabbergasted by what it might be.

The thorns on it is quite confusing. The lenticels on the stems points to Ligustrum or Pittosporum, the leave differences points to Ligustrum ovalifolium... which is a weed here by us in SA, but then the thorns???? It could be a cross with Pittosporum viridifolium...but then the Thorns???

Do you know what the flowers look like, one can identify plants better with flowers and seeds. Also what does it smell like when you break the leave?

Hi Andre & Billy. Unfortunately I have only had this tree for three months, so I cannot tell you anything about the flowers (if any) or the seeds/berries etc. All I can tell you is that after cutting one branch to take it to a local nursery it grew two more branches in five weeks that's now almost 7cm long. The thorns seem to be on only one some of the stems irrespective if it's young or old growth.

Yip I did the crush the leave thing, and no the smell isn't even close to that of a Citrus tree. I Googled Mock Orange, but none of the pictures came close to what I have. So I'm still in the dark to what this might be.

If it was nursery stock, Then the probabillity is that you have a Lugustrum {Privet},Which has been used as a stock plant to graft the thorn to, as allways without cutting the stock plant suckers it has taken over. What the thorn is sorry not a clue I live in Wales!!!